In 1989, Jeffrey moved from his small home town in Southeast Saskatchewan to Caronport for Grade 12. Taking advantage of the wider class offerings at his new larger school, he picked up every art and design class he could and was introduced to pottery. After graduation and a few years making pots intermittently at the potter’s guild, he decided to pursue pottery full time. This career move involved setting up his first studio in a trailer with six cats and no running water. After a period of time, he realized the need to advance his skills so he enrolled in the Fine Arts program at Red Deer College. In addition to the regular semester classes, their summer residency program enabled him to work alongside many ceramic artists from around the world. Emerging equipped with this fresh insight and invigorated artistic spirit, he ran away and found a job working construction.
In 1997, after working construction for a few years and working in various locations across Canada and the United States, he decided to return to creative life and set up a second pottery studio. He returned to Saskatchewan from Vancouver and started searching for a heritage building. On the advice of friends, he bought and renovated the vacant 1928 schoolhouse in Duval, Saskatchewan and named it Newschool Arts. Creating one of a kind pieces and functional dinnerware has been his focus since then. Jeffrey is joined here with his wife Nadia, who manages the business. He has served on the board of the Saskatchewan Craft Council, has been involved with CARFAC SK as a mentor and as a mentee, and is a founding member of The Last Mountain Artists’ Collective and Regina Art Collective.
Highlights in Jeffrey’s creative practice include; SKarts displaying “Antler Vase” in the rotunda of the provincial legislature building, being commissioned to create a baptismal font that was installed at Luther College, showing an antler handled vase in the 2019 Saskatchewan Craft Council touring exhibition “Dimensions”, having an antler handled vase purchased by the Saskatchewan Arts Board for the provincial permanent collection and participating with Regina Art Collective and Sâkêwêwak in opening the Lobby Gallery at the Regina Performing Arts Centre.
Currently, in addition to his functional wares, Jeffrey is exploring the use of a variety of materials in the creation of one of a kind teapots, vases and urns. Antler, metal, plastic, stone, wood and glass will be featured in upcoming projects.
